Teacher Observation, Feedback, and Support

in the Time of COVID-19

GUIDANCE FOR VIRTUAL LEARNING

Jessica Giffin

SEPTEMBER 2020
Author
Jessica Giffin

Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank the following individuals for their
thoughtful reviews: Lynn Holdheide, American Institutes for Research
(AIR); Jessica Johnson, AIR; Lisa Lachlan, AIR; Cortney Rowland, AIR;
and Gretchen Weber, AIR.
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Introduction
Due to COVID-19, many states, districts, and schools are having to reconceptualize K–12
education and are balancing between ensuring the safety of students, staff members,
and families, while also delivering high-quality learning experiences that ensure equitable
outcomes for all students. To address these challenges, schools are selecting from a range
of multiple learning environments, including in-person classes, hybrid models with part-time
in-person and virtual, and virtual learning only. For many K–12 teachers, teaching in a virtual
context is new. Few educator preparation programs prepare teachers to teach in a virtual
environment (Archambault, 2011; Kennedy & Archambault, 2012; Dawley, Rice, & Hinck,
2010), and yet, more than ever, teachers will need professional development, support, and
feedback on how to navigate the transition from in-person to virtual learning. One potential
policy challenge in this context is how to evaluate and provide teachers feedback and support
in a virtual learning environment. State education agencies (SEAs) sought to address this
policy challenge by revising teacher evaluation policy during the 2019–20 academic year to
lift requirements. However, given the new dynamics for the 2020–21 school year and the
increased focus on virtual learning, SEAs are seeking new ways to support teachers with
more relevant forms of feedback. Although virtual schools and online learning have been
growing in the United States prepandemic (Digital Learning Collaborative, 2019; Evergreen
Education Group, 2015), there is still limited research and examples of teacher evaluation
and observations for virtual learning (Patrick & Powell, 2009). In addition, other aspects of
teaching and learning will require greater priority in evaluation and feedback and support
to teachers—specifically, a focus on social-emotional learning, relationship building, and
student engagement.

This paper will provide SEAs with strategies to adapt educator evaluation and support
system policies and practices to support virtual learning. The examples, ideas, and resources
included herein come from virtual high schools in the United States and from postsecondary
education. This paper will explore the standards and rubrics for virtual learning, the logistics
for how school leaders can conduct virtual observations, the challenges with observing and
providing feedback virtually, and resources for professional learning focused on virtual
learning environments.

Three Ways to Leverage Teacher Evaluation and

Professional Learning Systems to Strengthen
Virtual Learning
Teacher evaluation systems and their frameworks were developed with the intention of
providing teachers with feedback and support to help improve instructional practice. SEAs

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Guidance for Virtual Learning
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can leverage these systems to provide teachers with the professional learning and support
they will need in order to address the impacts of COVID-19, including potential student learning
losses; provide additional social-emotional support to students; and adapt to teaching in virtual
environments. Many states and districts will not modify their existing teacher evaluation
policies and practices due to regulations or collective bargaining agreements, or feel it is not
wise to do so for a temporary situation brought upon by the pandemic. However, SEAs can
provide districts and schools with some additional guidance to help them leverage their
existing evaluation systems to provide teachers much-needed support at this time. The
following sections provide SEAs with strategies on how to leverage these systems to support
teachers and how to adapt them for virtual environments.

Standards and Framework Review and Alignment

Teachers need support and feedback to successfully navigate the transition from in-person
to virtual learning environments. SEAs should examine their existing teacher professional
practice frameworks to ensure that the best practices for delivering virtual learning
(e.g., using educational technology) are reflected and reinforced in the rubrics. Professional
practice rubrics and frameworks are typically aligned to state teaching standards and describe
the various components of high-quality teaching. Many of these elements would still be
applicable for virtual or hybrid learning. However, these frameworks, the training around them,
and examples shared with educators are based on in-person instruction in the classroom.
In light of the changing context of instruction in 2020–21, teachers will need more guidance
on how to adapt these practices in a virtual learning environment. For example, classroom
management practices may look different in a digital learning context versus the classroom.
During in-person instruction, teachers use classroom management strategies, such as verbal
and nonverbal cues, to redirect disruptions. A teacher could modify these strategies for virtual
instruction by using private chat features to remind students about behavior expectations
or adjusting permissions within the online learning platform.

Strategy #1: States can start by examining their professional practice frameworks to
determine which standards and/or indicators emphasize virtual learning best practices.
One way to do this is to conduct a crosswalk of the framework and/or rubric with national
online teaching standards. By analyzing existing frameworks, states can identify gaps,
develop supplemental resources to bolster the areas of their frameworks that are missing
around virtual learning, and provide targeted professional learning and support. Table 1
outlines some online teaching standards that SEA teams may consider.

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Table 1. Description of Online Teaching Standards

Standards Author Date Description

Standards for Southern 2006 The standards include the following categories: academic
Quality Online Regional preparation; content knowledge, skills, and temperament for
Teaching Education instructional technology; and online teaching and learning
Board methodology, management, knowledge, skills, and delivery. Each
standard in these categories is accompanied by indicators.
National Virtual 2019 The standards are focused on professional responsibilities,
Standards for Learning digital pedagogy, community building, learner engagement, digital
Quality Online Leadership citizenship, diverse instruction, assessment and measurement,
Teaching Alliance and instructional design. Each standard includes a set of
and Quality indicators, and for every indicator there is an explanation
Matters and examples.

Strategy #2: Once an SEA has examined how its existing professional practice framework
aligns with key online learning standards, states can consider any of the following approaches
to adapt their frameworks:

1. Identify specific standards or practices to be elevated for virtual learning. States

could prioritize observing and providing feedback and support on the “big ideas” of
instruction or specific practices that will be essential for virtual learning. The crosswalk
with national online learning standards will be a helpful tool to identify which practices
to support for virtual learning. For example, the Network for Educator Effectiveness
identifies specific indicators within their rubric to provide teachers with support and
feedback on virtual learning (see pages 3–4).

2. Prioritize specific indicators or practices to support during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Due to the stress and trauma of the pandemic, SEAs may want to prioritize social-
emotional learning (SEL), student engagement, and relationships with students. These
practices will be foundational for effective teaching and learning this year in order to
address potential learning losses and trauma. Most frameworks include some SEL-
related indicators, but states can compare their frameworks to national SEL standards,
such as CASEL’s core SEL competencies. By focusing on giving feedback and support
to teachers on the indicators or practices that support SEL, student engagement, and
relationships with students, it will help teachers effectively engage all students in virtual
learning environments. For example, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and
Secondary Education created guidance that highlights the priority indicators within their
professional practice rubric, which includes guiding principles on the social-emotional
well-being of students and educators, engaging students and families, and promoting
culturally responsive teaching and learning.

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3. Develop considerations in virtual learning settings for each indicator or practice. Due
to regulations or legislative requirements, it may not be possible for an SEA to prioritize
or focus on specific indicators and practices within its existing framework for evaluation
purposes. However, states can develop guidance that can highlight how these standards
and indicators will look like in virtual environments or how a teacher might modify the
practice to apply in virtual or hybrid learning environments. The National Institute for
Excellence in Teaching created such guidance that includes virtual learning strategies
for each indicator within its rubric. Similarly, the Danielson Group created guidance for
how to apply the practices in the Framework for Teaching that includes example virtual
learning strategies.

4. Refer to existing virtual schools’ evaluation systems frameworks or resources for

examples on how to modify and support teachers with virtual learning. Many states
have virtual schools that often must meet the state’s requirements for evaluation
systems but have modified existing rubrics or resources to address the unique knowledge
and abilities needed for effective online instruction. States and districts could borrow
from these resources to adapt their framework or develop supplemental guidance for
schools on how to modify their existing framework and its application for virtual learning.
For example, Idaho’s iSucceed Virtual High School has a crosswalk of the Danielson
Framework for Teaching with techniques for virtual learning and a teacher self-assessment
that describes the practices for online learning.

Evidence Collection and Observation

Teachers deliver virtual learning experiences in various ways. Some teachers use synchronous
instruction, which is delivered in real time with students using communication tools (i.e., Google
Classroom or Zoom) and by integrating video, audio, and visual aids, such as a whiteboard
or slides. This approach allows for greater student engagement, strengthens relationships,
and enhances students’ feelings of belonging, but technical problems can be a barrier to
engagement (McBrien, Cheng, & Jones, 2009). Another approach is asynchronous instruction
in which there is a delay between the presentation of content and the student response. Using
this approach, a teacher may prerecord video lessons for students to watch at their own pace
and use communication tools, such as e-mail or threaded discussions (Wicks, 2010; McBrien,
Cheng, & Jones, 2009; Nortvig, Petersen, & Balle, 2018). This approach allows students to
work at their own pace, provides accommodations, and lets learners digest and reflect on
the content. However, some research suggests that a purely asynchronous approach is less
effective in engaging students than synchronous approaches that combine both learning and
student response (Nortvieg et al., 2018).

The delivery of virtual instruction can look different from classroom instruction; therefore,
data collection and observations should reflect these differences. State leaders can create

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guidance on how evaluators can collect evidence and conduct observations in virtual learning
environments. Guidance can include:

¡ Using recorded videos of teacher practice. With both synchronous and asynchronous
instruction, administrators and evaluators can observe recorded lessons, providing
them greater flexibility on the time and length of the observation. The video can
be used to provide feedback specific to their instruction and offers an opportunity
for deeper reflection and explicit coaching. Having the ability to rewatch or rewind
the recorded lesson also can help ensure greater accuracy when evaluating the
teacher’s performance.

¡ Protecting student privacy. If using recorded

videos as evidence for synchronous instruction, Teacher Evaluation as an
SEAs will need to give districts and schools Asynchronous Experience
guidance on protecting student privacy, in Virtual Settings
particularly if the learning management
In a study of Ohio virtual schools, Kish
system (LMS) or platform records students’ (2018) found that most school leaders
webcams. The guidance could include obtaining described their teacher evaluation
parental/guardian permission via a form and process as an asynchronous experience.
instructing teachers to take students off camera School leaders reviewed archived
who do not have parental permission. If districts recorded lessons; class communication
and schools cannot ensure student privacy documentation, such as chat logs,
or if regulation prevents the use of recorded discussion boards, e-mails, and
videos, another approach would be to have phone logs; attendance rates; student
school leaders observe the lesson live as performance data; student and parent
instruction is occurring, replicating the in- surveys; and lessons (stored within the
school’s learning management system).
person classroom observation experience.
School leaders interviewed shared
¡ Measuring student engagement. It can be that many aspects of a virtual teacher’s
challenging to assess student and teacher instructional practice and performance
interaction or engagement during virtual are recorded and archived, providing
instruction, even in synchronous approaches a data-rich experience when
evaluating teachers.
(Kish, 2018). Students may not be on webcams
or teachers may engage students outside of
lessons at different times through phone calls,
e-mail, discussion boards, or real-time chats (Dixson, 2010; Chigeza & Halbert, 2014).
SEAs should encourage districts to collect evidence of student engagement by tracking
engagement through the LMS or platform analytics. Many online platforms can provide
data, such as time on the platform, time watching videos, number of videos accessed,
number of login sessions per week, average length of session, number of discussion
forum visits, and number of forum contributions (Chambers, Scala, & English, 2020).

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Feedback and Professional Learning

More than ever, teachers need high-quality, job-embedded professional learning to develop
teaching practices for virtual environments and strategies to support students with potential
learning loss and social-emotional well-being. A well-designed and -implemented teacher
evaluation system can support professional learning by promoting a shared understanding
of effective teaching, providing evidence-based feedback, and promoting collaboration
(Coggshall, Rasmussen, Colton, Milton, & Jacques, 2012). SEAs can create guidance and
resources on how districts and schools can provide feedback and professional learning
focused on growing teachers’ practice on virtual learning methods and supporting students’
well-being. The guidance can include:

¡ Developing a shared understanding of effective teaching in virtual environments.

The evaluation system itself can provide job-embedded professional learning
opportunities for teachers to develop a shared understanding of the indicators within
professional practice frameworks that support virtual learning. For example, if the
evaluation process includes a teacher self-assessment, state leaders could update it
to prioritize assessing teaching practices for virtual learning. State guidance should
encourage that any goal setting, either through the professional development plan or
student learning objectives, focus on improving two or three standards/indicators
that emphasize virtual learning practices.

¡ Providing evidence-based feedback and coaching. Guidance on providing feedback

will need to address the logistics of how evaluators or school leaders provide feedback
virtually and what effective feedback practices look like within virtual settings. For the
logistics, SEAs can recommend that all pre- or post-observation conferences and feedback
occur over videoconferencing or in-person whenever possible. This will help build trust
and transparency between the teacher and the evaluator or school leader. It is important
that the feedback sessions are reflective and lead to shared meaning and understanding—
this creates a situation where the feedback is learner-centered and more likely to improve
practice (Coggshall et al., 2012). If there are any existing feedback guidance resources
or sample reflective questions for evaluators, state leaders should update the materials
for virtual learning. For example, the reflective questions an evaluator may ask could
be on how the teacher adapted their teaching practices for virtual learning or how the
teacher assessed student learning within the virtual environment. These sample reflective
questions for evaluators or school leaders should be focused on the indicators and
practices that were identified within the state or district’s professional practice framework
to prioritize. The Colorado Department of Education’s website provides an example
of guidance on providing feedback in virtual settings. Virtual learning also affords an
opportunity for school leaders and instructional coaches to use videos as a coaching
tool to show teachers their practice, ask reflective questions, and model best practices.

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¡ Creating structures to support teacher collaboration. Virtual learning provides a unique

opportunity for teachers to learn from one another more than ever. Typically, it can be
challenging for grade-level or subject teams to observe one another’s instruction as
teams often have similar schedules. However, with virtual learning, teachers have greater
flexibility to observe another teacher’s synchronous instruction or share their prerecorded
asynchronous instruction or other online learning tools, such as discussion boards,
with their colleagues. School leaders could connect this practice and support as part
of teachers’ professional learning communities (PLCs). Teachers may identify a specific
virtual instructional strategy as one of their PLC goals and can observe each other’s
practice and give feedback. Virtual instruction also allows for greater opportunities
to have instructional practices modeled for teachers.

¡ Providing professional development opportunities that aligns to feedback and

evidence. Based on the evidence and feedback from the evaluation process, teachers
will need professional learning opportunities to strengthen their skills and knowledge.
Like feedback and coaching, professional learning opportunities should focus on the
same indicators identified that support virtual learning. SEAs should consider providing
professional learning opportunities or resources specific to each indicator or area of
their rubric modified to address virtual learning or any indicators that were prioritized.
Some key areas to consider for professional learning opportunities include student
engagement strategies, adapting curriculum and materials for virtual instruction, the
use of online tools for virtual instruction, approaches to communicate with students
and families, and strategies to build supportive learning environments in virtual spaces.
Table 2 highlights some resources on professional learning for virtual learning.

¡ Developing guidance and supports for school leaders and instructional coaches.
School leaders and instructional coaches will need guidance and support on how to
provide teachers with high-quality feedback in virtual environments and on the skills and
practices that support virtual learning. For example, school leaders and instructional
coaches will need guidance or professional development on how to leverage videos
as a coaching tool and how to support their use with teacher teams.

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Table 2. Resources on Professional Learning for Online Learning

Standards Author Description

Professional Development NACOL This paper discusses five common myths with supporting
for Virtual Schooling and teachers of online learning, and outlines actions that schools
Online Learning can take to provide professional development to virtual
teachers. It includes links to additional resources to support
professional development and preservice teacher education,
such as a table outlining the spectrum of professional
preparation and development for the various virtual school roles.
Exploring Preparation Michigan In this case study, virtual teachers were interviewed and shared
and Support for K-12 Virtual what types of professional development and support they
Online Teachers Learning received and what additional support is needed to assist in
Research their work. The teachers interviewed stated that professional
Institute learning communities (PLCs) were the most beneficial support.
Supporting Teacher The This guide outlines a timeline, a protocol, and suggested
Learning and Development Danielson activities to support teachers who are learning to navigate
During Remote Instruction Group digital learning. The guide may serve as a resource to work
through during PLCs.
Georgia Virtual Learning Georgia This webpage highlights some example virtual professional
Professional Learning Virtual learning courses available to teachers of Georgia Virtual School.
Professional The course topics include online support for special-need
Learning students, introduction to synchronous learning, effective
online teaching, and SMART [Specific, Measurable, Achievable,
Relevant, and Time-based] goals for educators.
Going Virtual! 2010: Boise State This study explored the status of professional development
The Status of Professional University of K–12 online teachers and identified the unique needs
Development and Unique and iNACOL of online teachers. Some of the professional development
Needs of K-12 Online needs included foundational knowledge, facilitation strategies,
Teachers technology tools, online course design, and digital etiquette.

Conclusion
Just like teachers are modifying their instructional practices for virtual instruction, states and
districts will need to adapt their educator evaluation and support systems for virtual learning.
This process includes examining the existing professional practice rubric for virtual learning
practices, identifying what practices and indicators to prioritize or provide additional guidance,
and rethinking some of the methodology to conduct observations and provide feedback. It will
be important for SEAs to encourage districts to examine their existing collective bargaining
agreements and regulations to understand what can be adapted for virtual settings. Although
this crisis may pose a number of challenges, SEAs can use this time as an opportunity to
support teachers as they adapt their instruction for virtual learning and meet the needs of
students during this critical time.

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References
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Chambers, D., Scala, J., & English, D. (2020). Promising practices brief: Improving student
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